Shams Drops BOMBSHELL Rockets Durant Report...

ESPN's Shamshiranya just dropped a bombshell Rockets trade report on Kevin Durant, as in his latest article he mentions multiple huge updates that until today were previously unknown. Find out all the latest on the Rockets and KD right here on Rockets Digest. I'm J. Sanders, we appreciate you joining us, and this right here is why you subscribe. Breaking news, we're getting the video out to you ASAP on YouTube, in fact, we're one of the fastest people when it comes to breaking news on the Houston Rockets, so if you want to be up to date on timely, timely responses, well then hit that subscribe button because this is huge. Let's talk about it. As a new ESPN article came out and the headline, sources, Suns and Durant's business partner have weighed in on trade options. Now this is, first of all, just a great headline because we all knew that Kevin Durant is most likely going to be traded this offseason. We all knew that it was going to be a collective decision between the Phoenix Suns, Kevin Durant, and his business partner Rich Kleiman, but now we're getting official reports in timelines for this stuff on what a potential trade for Kevin Durant would look like. And say what you want to say, yes he's going into his age 37 season, yes his timeline for the next three years is probably going to be a little bit slimmer than maybe a trade for Giannis or a younger player, and the Rockets are definitely a young team. However, you cannot deny that if Kevin Durant is traded to the Houston Rockets, he does not make them better. I would argue he would make the Houston Rockets the best team in the Western Conference and the favorite to go to the finals, if not win the finals, in the 2025-2026 season. His 26.6 points this past season were great, and his average over his past couple seasons with the Phoenix Suns of over 26 points is a franchise record in Phoenix. His field goal percentage is there, his three-point percentage is there, and he fits very well with this Houston Rockets team dynamic. First of all, rebounding. That's a huge thing with Emile Doka and this Houston Rockets team. Guess what? Yes, it was six rebounds per game in this season, but he is a very good rebounder, especially when you would pair him with an out-branching goon type, and of course Amun Thompson and the way that this Rockets team play. Now, of course, we all know that if a trade is converted between the Houston Rockets and the Phoenix Suns, it will most likely include Jalen Green, and that is a big thing to give up. However, there is mixed opinions on him, but Kevin Durant does make this team better on a one-for-one swap over Jalen Green, and when you probably include the fact that the rest of that trade is going to be players that either didn't play this past season for the Houston Rockets or picks, you got to think that it would make the Rockets a very, very big boost in the upcoming season. So without further ado, let's go right into Shams' report here, and this is the first part of the article. I kind of mentioned it here, but he says, quote, The Phoenix Suns and Kevin Durant's business partner, boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman, have met multiple times over the past week and are sifting through trade scenarios. Sources told this to ESPN on Wednesday. This all comes from Shams Sharanya, which is a big thing because Shams is the NBA insider. If you have been kind of following up to date on the NBA media world, Adrian Wojnarowski reluctantly left his role to go be a coach, I believe, or a GM. Either way, Shams Sharanya is the guy when it comes to these major reports, and this is huge because he released an entire article talking about the latest details with Kevin Durant, which makes me believe that the trade is coming very, very, very soon, and I think in a lot of ways the Rockets should prepare themselves because they are a huge, huge, huge factor in this. They've been named the top team to land Kevin Durant, they've been named the top team with the best assets in the NBA to make a big trade like this, and now it's like, okay, we're about there. We're about there. It's just about if Raphael Stone feels the deal is good enough, and on top of which, what exactly the situation is with Kevin Durant in terms of extending him, which we'll get into in just a moment. Let's continue on, though, in this article for now, as Shams says this, and this is a big one. Quote, teams that have expressed interest in Durant. Sources said mainly feature the Houston Rockets, the San Antonio Spurs, the Miami Heat, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the New York Knicks. Several wild card suitors have made inquiries on Durant in the past seven to 10 days, sources have said. So a couple of things to note there. Those teams being the top ones are huge for a couple different reasons. We all know that the Houston Rockets were the top team when looking from the outside in on getting Kevin Durant. San Antonio, also a very big team when it comes to landing Kevin Durant. The Timberwolves have kind of come in late here. After their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, it seems as though they're trying to make a big move. They've also been listed as a potential top suitor for Giannis Antetokounmpo, so kind of an interesting one there. The Heat being in here is nothing really surprising. The Heat have kind of been included in these big trades a little bit there, somewhat of a low factor. The Knicks being down there is also intriguing. The Knicks are kind of in a weird space because, yes, they took out the Boston Celtics, but at the same time, they fired their head coach and really didn't perform that well against the Indiana Pacers. Besides the point, though, the Houston Rockets are the main team, and in that quote, once again go back to it, there have been inquiries made from wild card suitors over the past seven to 10 days, which makes me believe that all of those teams that were just mentioned have all made inquiries on Kevin Durant and potentially talked about potential trade packages for KD off the Phoenix Suns. That's a huge thing. We all know that when the Phoenix Suns got their new head coach from the Cleveland Cavaliers, that it was pretty much all steam engines ahead on trading Kevin Durant. That was their main and number one priority. And now, well, we're a week past, week and a half past from that hiring, and so what have been the moves made since the hiring to trade Kevin Durant? Well, now we know teams have inquiried about Kevin Durant. We know that there have been multiple teams that are labeled as potential top suitors, and we know the Rockets were listed first, all of those being huge things. I continue on in the article here as Sham Sharanya says this on Kevin Durant. Quote, teams around the NBA have been anticipating that Durant would be traded ever since the Suns engaged in talks around this February trade deadline, which passed with the All-Star still in the Phoenix. Suns officials and Kleiman will continue to meet on trade conversations with talks expected to escalate before the NBA draft later this month, end quote. Now this is something we partially knew, but this is full confirmation because there had been labeled reports from outside sources, not an ESPN guy, not Shams for sure, saying that a trade is likely to happen before the NBA draft. That was obviously something that a lot of people talked about because the Phoenix Suns labeled picks as one of their top priority, which the Houston Rockets have the Phoenix Suns pick for this year, and for 2027 they have the Phoenix Suns pick. So that obviously makes Houston a very top priority for them. But it also labels me this, Kevin Durant is going to be traded very, very soon. Just to put it out there, the NBA draft is on June 25th, and we're recording this video on June 11th, so we're talking less than 15 days before a potential Kevin Durant trade is executed, and buckle your seatbelts, because if the Rockets make this trade, that is going to trade, that's going to change the entire outlook of next season for Houston. However, if the Houston Rockets do not trade for Kevin Durant, then one of two things happen. They come out and they say, we have decided to fully embrace the team that we have. We believe that they are going to be the winners next year. We believe this team can win next year. Or the second option, they say, you know what, we're a little frustrated, we're going to really, really pursue Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is more likely to be traded later on in this offseason. So it is going to be a very interesting offseason, whether you get Kevin Durant or whether you not. The Rockets are the top team, I want to put that out there and I want to say that again and again and again, because there's comments and I see them. I don't want Kevin Durant, I don't think Kevin Durant would help this team, he's old, he's all this. I get it, I understand. But at this point, it is very likely that a trade is executed and it is, I would say, probably around a 30% chance right now that the Houston Rockets are the team to land Kevin Durant. And 30% does not seem like a lot. However, when there are this many teams vying for Kevin Durant, the Rockets first, Timberwolves he and Knicks, 30% is more than all those teams probably, maybe even combined. So just be ready for that. One more thing I want to mention in the article here, as it's really gone into an interesting place, but this is something that I don't think we knew. Durant was nearly traded to the Golden State Warriors at the February trade deadline before he made it clear that he was not interested in a reunion and preferred to finish the season with the Suns. At the time, sources told ESPN that Durant was blindsided by the Suns, including him in any trade conversations. This time around, the sides are expected to work together on his next haul. Which funny enough, because it was reported that the Houston Rockets also were being contacted by the Phoenix Suns for a potential Kevin Durant trade before the trade deadline, which when you talk about him being blindsided with all this, that's very interesting and the fact of the matter is he did not want a reunion with the Golden State Warriors, which I mean thank goodness. Imagine the Rockets having to play Golden State in the first round of playoffs with Jimmy Butler, or instead of Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. So that would just not been a great thing, but I didn't really, that was something we did not know that Kevin Durant was blindsided by this. He expected to be the Phoenix at least through this past season, if not into maybe next year with the end of his contract coming up. So I thought that was like pretty interesting to kind of look at here. And then one more thing here as we go back to Kevin Durant's stats. It's just a player that I think the Rockets would enjoy to have on their team. I think it'd be somebody that would really boost everybody, and in some ways you get a veteran leader. Now, yes, you kind of have that with Fred VanVleet, and yes, it is very highly likely that he will stay with the Houston Rockets as they moved his opt-out to the 29th of the team opt-out, I should say. But Kevin Durant is a different type of team leader, and I am intrigued to see what happens with Mr. KD. If he does end up in a Rockets uniform, whatever happens with him, it's going to be a fun time. With that, I think that's all I got for you, so make sure you hit that subscribe button because when a trade does happen, oh man, we are going to be absolutely getting you the content out all that day, whether it's Saturday, Sunday, it doesn't matter when that happens. There will be flooding of content for you to let you know all the details on Kevin Durant and what exactly could be made of if a trade was made to them or if a trade was not made to them. So, as always, hit that subscribe button. We appreciate you joining us. Big day in the NBA with that report, and now we sit and we wait like everybody else. Let me know in the comments section, do you want Kevin Durant? Is that somebody you would like? All your thoughts, I'm reading all of them, but for now, we say peace out here on Rockets Digest.